NO DELAYS: Bookshop opens at T5

THE CHAOS THAT marked the opening of Terminal 5 at London's Heathrow airport last week did not extend to two new Hughes & Hughes bookstores which had no difficulty in dealing with customers in the new terminal.

The only Irish retailer in T5 will operate the two bookstores under a €70 million, five-year specialist bookshop contract which the company won from the British Airport Authority.

The new outlets will bring to 21 the number of Hughes & Hughes bookshops across Ireland and the UK.

In T5 it will trade alongside Prada, Tiffany & Co, Harrods and Gordon Ramsay's first airport restaurant.

The two outlets, which extend to 371.6sq m (4,000sq ft), were designed by McCabe Design Partnership and feature a contemporary look of sleek metal and porcelain finishes.

The shops have no traditional storefront but instead blend in naturally with the terminal space.

Derek Hughes, chief executive of Hughes & Hughes, says the opening of the T5 stores will provide the company with a launch pad for further expansion in the UK and Europe.

© 2008 The Irish Times

This article appears in the print edition of the Irish Times